Dan

There are several things that have made the NFL the greatest sport to watch. Among those are the relatively short season and having most all the games on one day of the week. By only having 16 games, you maximize the importance of each game. In baseball, say you miss a few weeks in June - who cares. In football, if you miss a week or 2, you've missed a significant portion of the season. Also, by having all the games on Sunday, you allow for football parties. As well as the ability for people to plan their week around this one glorious day when you can get all your football. It's simple, its easy, its fun. All they're doing by adding more regular season games and adding more playing dates (Thurs. and Sat. games) is diluting the product, IMO. Yes, you see some increases in revenue. But, you see a decrease in the rabid nature of fans that dedicate themselves to the sport. I guess it comes down to what's more important for the league - more money or increased fandom? I'd say that spreading the draft out over 3 nights, playing games in London, playing games 4 days/week, moving the Pro Bowl, and now possibly extending the season is all about making money and caring less about fan appeal. IMO, Goodell is all that's wrong for the league. Why not make the Superbowl a best 2 out of 3 series? Imagine all the money you could make on 3 games as opposed to one.

Care to give a synopsis for those of us to cheap to register?

I would have kept them out there... you know you're ready for the season when you can outrun lightning strikes.

I'd agree completely. There's no way Ralph and the Bills pay Maybin more just because Crabtree got more. OF course, that doesn't stop his agent from trying. We all know it won't work - just ask Peters. But, I suppose they gotta try. It just sucks, because the guy has now missed all of training camp and half the preseason games. I'd guess it's a very short list of rookies that have missed this much off season time and had any sort of productive rookie year.

Beautiful. And if they had caved and paid Peters $11mill/year, they'd be at every agent's mercy that wanted more mercy as well. So is there any way the Bills' FO could have "won" given Peters' demands? Maybe if they just refused to pay, but also refused to trade, and just let him sit on the bench taking up a roster spot for 2 years? Regardless, its beyond time to get Maybin into camp. He's lost considerable valuable time and few rookies make an impact after missing the majority of training camp.

Thanks!

Found this site for radio. But, haven't tried the links yet.

Seeing as how the game is in a few hours, does anyone have a suggestion that doesn't have a 24hr registration time period? (Not that I don't appreciate the link for future use. Thanks.)

In all seriousness, your credentials, professionalism, and history of providing accurate (early) information has earned you the right to some serious love by all posters of this board. Thanks for all the insight you provide.

It would appear you're trying quite diligently to achieve your stated objective. I guess its good to have goals, huh.

I'm not ready to anoint Stupar the next great thing, yet. However, Shouman and Fine have done very little to impress in actual games. So, I'm all in in. Seeing what we have at TE, I'd say keep 2 of them (Nelson and someone), and give the roster spots to someone that might actually contribute something.

Exactly. How hilarious is it that after the very first preseason game, one in which the starters didn't even raise a sweat, is enough to start making people jump ship? What's that saying... good riddance to bad rubbish.

OK.. so here's my miscellaneous thoughts on the game, day, and weekend in general.... Yesterday was another great day! Sure, it would have been nice to see the 1st stringers play more than a series. Sure, it would have been nice to actually win. But that just wouldn't be Jauron's style now would it. We started the day by touring the Hall. I could have spent about 2 days in there. Entirely too much to go through in a few hours especially with a few thousand people streaming through. Great displays. Given that it was about 92 outside, it was a good day to stay in the AC and tour the hall. Then we went to the official tailgate. It cost $55 (if I remember correctly). I wouldn't recommend it. It wasn't bad, but just too many people, bad music and not near worth it for the money. We had fun and all, but if I go back, I'll tailgate on my own. Main reason we went was my parents got the package and we wanted to spend time with them, so it was worth it. Then back to the car to drop off the swag. We had great parking in a guy's lawn just outside the stadium. Super great guy and an excellent sausage stand on the corner. Back to the stadium, just in time for the game. It was a great evening with a nice breeze in the air. We had Titans fans, Bills fans, Browns fans, and unbiased Canton residents (although they loved TO) sitting around us. All were super nice and great fun. We had a good time ribbing them all back and forth with each Titan penalty. From my seat, which wasn't very good seeing as how all the action seemed to be at the other end of the field, the game looked great. Given that it was the first preseason game and others have broken the play down far better than I could, I won't comment much on the play. For this Bills' fan the game capped off a great weekend. For those getting bent out of shape over the game, keep in mind that it was just one part of a great weekend. There's still plenty of time to get the plays worked out. I'll give it a few weeks before I panic too much. In the meantime, I'm going to revel in the enjoyment of being a Bills' fan. I posted another gallery with a few pics from Sunday. Enjoy. Dan

Good to know. thanks.

Thanks. It does do ok. But, the night pictures aren't great and I can't zoom. But, I love the convenience. If my sister emails me the nicer pics I'll post them. But, no guarantees there.

This thread is starting to suck.

I just create an album! My first ever online album, so tell me if I screwed it all up. I posted a few pics from the ceremony yesterday. My sisters have the nice digital cameras. All I roll with is a cell phone camera, so I don't have any nice zoomed in, high rez pics. I didn't edit these in any way, for size or color. So, SDS, I hope they're not too large. I figure they're just from the cell phone, so they shouldn't be too big. It was a fun day. A little wet in the afternoon, but not too bad. We hoped to tour the Hall prior to the game, but didn't realize they closed it at 5. I guess to get ready for the ceremony. No worries though. All in all, a great day. Not sure this is the right link... but here goes.... linky to gallery.

I'd agree with that breakdown. Judging by how many people left before Bruce (assuming they weren't Bills fans). I'd say about 70% Bills' Nation. Great fun. We went to Panini's Pub after the ceremony, they had a band and pretty good crowd Bills going till they closed. It was funny, even the band there realized that if you wanted a cheer just mention Buffalo. Great night all around. A late morning. But we're touring the Hall this afternoon, then tailgate, then the game. Lovin it.

Ralph was great! It made me proud to be a Bills fan watching him up there. The love he got from everyone in the stands, Bills Jersey or not, was indicative of how respected he is. Awesome night for Ralph and I felt honored to be there sharing it with him. The last line.. .though.. what was that all about? Hilarious. I missed that part about America. I was just thinking Ralph didn't like to see old people in wheelchairs - breathing oxygen no less! Needless to say those jokes kept us going through Rod's speech.

Flew into Cleveland this evening, spent the night drinkin at the Holiday Inn in Independence (just outside Cleveland). Nothing but Bills seen fans so far. In the rental car parking lot we got in a Bruuuuuuuuce shouting match with another Bills fan. It was a great arrival. Looking forward to a great Bills weekend!

I'm confused. What do you mean by move on? Are you suggesting they shouldn't try to sign him? They should do... what to move on?

I completely agree. And I would say, given Parker's recent reputation, that it says a lot about a player that hires him as their agent. Look at Rosenhaus, he has exactly the same job as Parker. Yet his players rarely hold out and he still gets them lots of money. He's just as effective at his job but he seems to do it by telling his player to go play his but off while he goes and negotiates his but off. Parker, on the other hand, seems to prefer the lazier blackmail approach - I have a good player that you won't see or even talk to until you give in to whatever demands I have.

Valid points. However, I contend that had Peters not held out all of the '08 off season, and played at his 2007 level all season, the FO would have been much more willing to give him the money he desired. I think the holdout and subsequent drop in production left a bad taste in the FO's mouths as it did many posters here. Of course this is all opinion as well. You could also interpret his shock at being traded another way. His agent was probably telling him every day not to worry, the Bills will never trade you, they'll pay up. IMO, Parker is the bad person here more so than anyone else. He's proving himself to be an agent that has no problem holding a team hostage. From the holdouts last year, to the claims regarding Crabtree this year, Parker is proving he doesn't really care about a team, a player or their career.

No I don't. However, I'm not sure that he should nor am I sure that how much the owner spends on building the stadium is an indicator of his competency as an owner.

Not to mention, Hamdan doesn't like it.